F-35 debate: The Florida town that sued the Air Force

Without support from its congressional delegation or regional officials, Valparaiso, Fla., went to court to minimize impact of fighter jet noise on residents. It succeeded.

Dec. 19, 2012

A 33rd Fighter Wing aircraft maintainer moves by the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter before giving the pilot the order to taxi the aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. / Samuel King Jr./USAF via AP

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

Valparaiso, Fla., sued the Air Force over the basing of the F-35 at neighboring Eglin Air Force base in 2009, and Mayor John Arnold says the expensive suits, now settled, were successful in mitigating the impact of the fighter jet’s noise on residents.

The experiences of the Florida Panhandle community may hold lessons for leaders in South Burlington here in Vermont. The city has not sued the Air Force over plans to base the F-35 at Burlington’s airport, but the City Council has formally opposed the basing, and its objections have galvanized opposition in Winooski, Colchester and Burlington. South Burlington’s opposition has also animated proponents for siting the F-35 in Vermont; they’ve circulated petitions regionally signed by more than 10,000 individuals voicing support for the proposal.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and the congressional delegation strongly support the F-35 basing. Shumlin, Weinberger, Winooski Mayor Michael O’Brien and business leaders who support the F-35 basing made a trip last week to Eglin Air Force Base to listen to the plane. The experience did not change their views.

In Florida, the Air Force had been preparing several years ago to base as many as 107 F-35s at Eglin despite noise modeling predictions that Valparaiso’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pensacola termed “prohibitively severe” and said would have “a devastating impact” on the small town of Valparaiso.

Mayor Arnold said Valparaiso had no recourse except a lawsuit after the Air Force made its basing decision. “It was nothing we wanted to do,” he said. “I want to emphasize we support the Air Force and the F-35 program. We just felt there were things to do which could minimize noise over the city, and they hadn’t looked at them.”

The lawsuit said the Air Force’s environmental impact statement itself predicted noise that would blanket Valparaiso and “the city’s properties, employees and operations.” The city had previously sued the Air Force to force the release of noise records under the Freedom of Information Act, and settled that case when the Air Force provided the records.

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In settling the 2009 case, Arnold said, the Air Force agreed to examine basing alternatives for the F-35 on the massive Air Force base that would lessen the noise in the city, limit the aircraft to 59 and avoid use for the F-35s except in emergencies of a north-south runway that literally runs through town.

The legal settlement “got us the agreements we got now,” Arnold said.

The language in the Florida suit parallels the concerns held by some in Vermont as the debate over basing the fighter jet at Burlington International Airport has intensified.

Arnold said that the dispute in Florida got ugly at times. The community was sued by the county (the suit was ultimately dropped), and Valparaiso, he said, got “no support from elected officials,” whether regional, state or the congressional delegation, as it tried to deal with the issue.

“We were the bad guys,” he said.

The local congressman, he recalled, suggested the small town of about 6,000 was, as Arnold’s characterized the criticism, “trying to blackmail the Air Force.”

As a result of the interim settlement, he said, the Air Force has undertaken a new environmental impact statement (due early next year), which will examine the impacts of basing a larger number of planes at Eglin and of the base being designated a training facility for the F-35.

Eglin flight operations affect Valparaiso, the lawsuit stated. “The city is surrounded by Eglin Air Force base,” with “Runway 01/19 ... entirely within the city’s geographical boundaries” and another runway mostly within the city, court documents stated.

The draft environmental impact statement for Eglin Air Force Base indicated a large increase in missions, from just over 29,000 operations annually previously to more than 121,000 operations with the new F-35.

And, as would be true in Burlington, the new fighter jet is much louder than the F-16 and other older jets. According to Air Force projections, “most, if not all of the city will be exposed to noise levels in excess of 65 (decibels),” the Valparaiso lawsuit stated.

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That sound level has been recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration as being too loud for residences and has resulted in the purchase in South Burlington near the airport of 136 properties over the years at a cost of just under $39 million, purchases that have occurred even before the F-35 might fly here.

The Valparaiso lawsuit pointed to health concerns stemming from noise that were cited in the draft environmental impact statement, including “high blood pressure, coronary disease, ulcers, colitis and migraine headaches.” The report also suggested negative effects on learning for children in schools subject to noise levels over 65 decibels. The lawsuit also noted that the Air Force decided not to build a “lifestyle Center” at Eglin “because the noise levels from the (F-35) will be too great. In other words,” the lawsuit concluded, “the noise levels were so severe they would inhibit the USAF’s service members’ ability to shop or watch a movie.”

The Air Force worked to put out its side of the story. As The New York Times recounted in a May 2009 story, defense officials hosted at least 14 briefings and public events discussing the fighter jet and efforts to limit impact on neighbors. Others, including county officials, said they feared Valparaiso’s lawsuit would harm the local economy (this debate was occurring early in the recession.).

“It’s an emergency situation,” the Times quoted Bill Roberts, chairman of the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners, as saying. “The economic viability of our county is being threatened.”

Arnold, the mayor, said the legal actions cost Valparaiso about $200,000.

He said that while he hadn’t anticipated the level of vilification he and city officials received after filing the suits from those in favor of the F-35, that animosity is now “waning day by day.”

“As the aircraft fly around here, people are beginning to realize maybe they did the right thing,” he said.

He said that much of the hostility came from people who didn’t live in Valparaiso. He noted he was re-elected to another term as mayor two years ago with 60 percent of the vote.